Dear Councillors
I write on behalf of REDWatch to
seek Council support for impacted City of Sydney communities following
UrbanGrowth’s announcement on 4th December that they are selling the
Australian Technology Park at Eveleigh through an EOI process, the first stage
of which closes on 30th January 2015.
I request that Council provide
this support by:
- Urgently undertaking
an impact assessment of the decision to sell the ATP and making that assessment
publically available to impacted communities - Convene a community
forum in the second half of January to explain the potential impact to local
communities and to work with communities to ensure their concerns are heard by
UrbanGrowth in line with the Council UG MOU Resolution of 28 July 2014. - Use its good offices
under the MOU with UrbanGrowth NSW to try to mitigate any adverse impacts on
surrounding residents. - As a matter of
urgency implement the Council resolution of 26 August 2013 to work with members
of the previous Redfern Waterloo Heritage Taskforce and others to try to
establish a co-operative effort to strengthen heritage interpretation and
promotion at Eveleigh (including the ATP).
With this process running over
the Christmas New Year period when communities are on holidays it is even more
important that Council undertakes such an assessment and informs its residents
of the potential impacts.
Council has an MOU with
UrbanGrowth through which officers can hopefully have some influence in
minimising adverse impacts. On July 28 2014 Council also resolved to request
the CEO to report back to Council on establishing mechanisms for community
engagement on the Eveleigh/Redfern and the Bays Precinct projects, which will
ensure the participation of the community in the development of the projects. To
date we have not been advised of any such mechanism for Central to Eveleigh.
Such a mechanism, if put in in place alongside a Council undertaken impact
assessment, could facilitate community members making a response to UrbanGrowth
to try to minimise the impacts of the sale. It is hence proposed that a
community meeting in the second half of January be a start to this process.
Heritage has been a major
concern on this iconic site – remember the battles to remove the Large Erecting
Workshop and to remove the operating Blacksmith whose continued existence was a
consent condition for establishing the ATP. The change from government
ownership to private ownerships raises a number of risks including the impact
of no longer needing to meet government Section 170 requirements. In 2013
Council supported the reconvening of the former Redfern Waterloo Heritage
Taskforce stakeholders and the Lord Mayor wrote to then Minister Hazzard on 22
August 2013 requesting that a Government and Heritage taskforce be
established. Council resolved on 26 August 2013 that in the event that
a government heritage taskforce is not established within a reasonable time,
the City will work with the Australian Technology Park, Carriageworks and
UrbanGrowth and other members of the previous Taskforce, with a view to
bringing the parties together to explore how a co-operative effort could
strengthen heritage interpretation and promotion across the former Eveleigh
Railway Workshops site for the benefit of all parties.
Given the potential heritage
implications of the sale, and the greater ease of establishing a mechanism
across the entire site before the site is further fragmented, we are asking
Council to implement the 2013 resolution as a matter of urgency.
I recognise that this email
comes at a difficult time in the Council year but with the timing of this
announcement I hope it will be possible for Council to act on this important
matter.
Below is an email I sent out
last evening to C2E stakeholders that contains links to the sale details and
some initial REDWatch concerns from a quick look at the proposal should you
require further information.
Regards,
Geoffrey Turnbull
Spokesperson